My Favorite Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

Ben gets hungry at work. Ravenous by the time he gets home, if he doesn't have protein... So I make him granola bars. (Annnnd, I might like them just a little bit, too...) "Roasteries," which were a new concept for me- places with barrels of dried fruits and nuts of all sorts, are very common here. It's easy to find and not super expensive to buy different kinds of nuts, which actually keep one full for longer than two minutes, since sometimes he doesn't have much of a break for lunch.

This is my favorite protein-packed granola recipe, though since the protein comes from nuts, it is also full of those natural fats found in nuts, so don't consider this necessarily a "healthy" recipe- but it is natural and uses real, whole foods. The cool thing about making granola is the fact that it is super easy to personalize- just switch out the things you don't like for things you do... but try to keep the ratio of dry to sticky ingredients the same overall so that it still forms a bar.

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup raw/brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)

Heat on stove until sugar dissolves and then remove from heat and add peanut butter, then add to dry ingredients:

2 c oats
1 c sliced almonds (raw)
1 c sliced cashews (raw)
1 c walnuts
1/4 c flax
1 c favorite like dried fruit or chocolate chips.

Line 9x13 with foil or wax paper and bake at 350 until brown to your liking. I usually bake around 20 minutes. I slice while warm and then let cool, and wrap individually to send in lunches.